Just over one week since the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike Hollywood talent agents are fielding a flood of offers and British star Nicholas Hoult is reportedly in talks to play the villainous Lex Luthor in James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy.
DC/Warner Bros did not comment on Monday’s reports, however casting is gathering pace.
Newcomer David Corenswet (Pearl) and Rachel Brosnahan from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel signed up before the actors strike kicked in to play the lead and Lois Lane, respectively. Last week Venezuelan actor and singer Maria Gabriela de Faria signed up to play antagonist The Engineer.
Superman: Legacy is scheduled to open via Warner Bros on July 11 2025 and is among the ‘Chapter One, Gods And Monsters’ first wave of connected DC Universe content which is being lined up by DC Studios, co-headed by Gunn and Peter Safran.
As previously announced the latest entry in the Man Of Steel canon is scheduled to open worldwide on July 11, 2025. Gunn will direct from his screenplay based on the character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, with Safran producing.
Hoult will be seen in Clint Eastwood’s thriller Juror No. 2 for Warner Bros next year, and his credits include recent release Renfield and Hulu series The Great, as well as The Menu, Mad Max: Fury Road distributed by Warner Bros, and his breakout role opposite Hugh Grant in About A Boy.
Gene Hackman famously played Luthor opposite Christoper Reeve in Richard Donner’s Superman films of the late 1970s and 1980s, while Jesse Eisenberg assumed the mantle in Zack Snyder’s more recent Justice League films.
Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been one of the biggest Hollywood hits of 2023 and earned $845.6m at the worldwide box office.
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